Reputation.Resources.Results

University of Arizona students are all too often cited or arrested for misdemeanor “disorderly conduct.” This blog addresses the charge of ARS § 13-2904 “disorderly conduct” as it relates  University of Arizona students involved in late-night altercations, both minor and substantial. 

In Arizona, if you are under 21 you basically can’t legally drink.   Any amount of alcohol in your system with few exceptions, nearly always  no matter where you are and what you are doing,  is  illegal.  In other words, if you are under 21, and have a sip of beer, it is presumptively an Arizona  crime. ARS § 4-244.41,  I know that sounds crazy but it’s true.  And the local police do charge these cases.

Your child has become an undergraduate student at University of Arizona.  Maybe you live out-of-state, and your child is hundreds –and in many cases thousands– of miles away.  Then you get the call that your child got into trouble.  Maybe there’s a criminal citation. Maybe the University Police came to their dorm room. You’re not sure what to do.  This Guide is designed to help you.

First, understand that in the dorms, your child’s privacy rights as a practical matter are left at the key-carded entrance. And that the Resident Assistants rather than acting as your child’s “assistants,” actually serve as de-facto auxiliaries of the University of Arizona Police. In the vast majority of cases, it is the Resident Assistants themselves who make the call to the Police about your child. And they do so for relatively minor occurrences it seems—when for example an RA thinks she smells marijuana creeping (“emanating” the Police like to call it, the RA’s adopting the police verbiage) out from under your child’s dorm room door, or suspect usually correctly mind you that there’s underage drinking going on behind that door, or when they hear what they think behind that door is heated argument your daughter might be having with her boyfriend.

The Arizona state courts may have signaled a new willingness to intervene in campus sexual misconduct cases this past week in a case called Doe v. Arizona Board of Regents. Campus sex cases are fraught with controversy. On the one hand, Universities should provide a safe school environment and equal access to education. On the other hand, many worry that due process has been swept aside in a rush to condemn individual students and assure the public that something is being done.

The Courts continue to grapple with the difficult question of fairness in university and college student discipline cases, especially when students are accused of serious misconduct (such as nonconsensual sexual conduct) and face expulsion or long-term suspension. On the one hand, all students and other members of an academic community are entitled to a safe campus environment. On the other, accusations of serious misconduct can badly damage a student’s reputation and result in the loss of educational and career opportunities. In short, the stakes are inevitably high.

courts have upheld a university’s right to discipline students when their social media posts violate university policies. Courts also tend to routinely side with high school administrators enforcing social media policies meant to promote tolerance and combat cyber-bullying.

Many of you who are under twenty-one may have questions about what happens if you get caught with a fake ID at the University of Arizona I have a few observations and suggestions.

Classes just started on Tuesday, three days ago, and already we have received calls from students and parents. Here’s a quick guide to common University of Arizona citations and arrests, especially for undergraduates, based on our many years experience representing students.

University of Arizona students and parents, often out-of-state, call us with urgent questions. Far too often a student has been caught in one of the dorms, typically Coronado,smoking marijuana, or lately an extract commonly known as “wax” (Butane Hash Oil). Eighteen years old, with no prior criminal record, the student is summarily booked into Pima County Jail, where he spends the night. Here’s five things you should know.